Ucf Goalkeeper Adds To A-sun Accolades

ORANGE SPORTS

October 10, 2004|By Tom Wyrwich, Special to the Sentinel

Ryan McIntosh, the junior goalkeeper for the UCF Golden Knights' men's soccer team, won the Atlantic Sun Conference defensive player of the week. It was the fourth time in his career McIntosh earned the award.

It shouldn't come as much surprise, though. McIntosh was the conference's defensive player of the year in 2003.

Against Stetson last Sunday, McIntosh made nine saves in a 1-0 UCF victory, his first shutout of the season and the 12th of his career. As of Thursday, McIntosh was second in the conference in saves and fourth in goals against average.

UMBERS GETS TO FINAL

Rollins College tennis player Matt Umbers, a senior from England, had a good showing at the ITA Southeast Regional last week.

Umbers, the 11th seed, made the final of the tournament, defeating the first- and third-seeded players on his way. He beat top seed Thomas Hipp in two sets, and then beat third-seeded Sebastian Niedermayer in three.

Umbers was finally stopped in the finals in a 6-1, 6-0 loss to Florida Gulf Coast's Richard Stempnowski.

Freshman Jonathan Gomez, the 14th seed, made the semifinals and unseeded David Tafur (Lake Brantley) made the quarterfinals before losing to Umbers.

WILLIAMS' BLOCK PARTY

Sherri Williams (Edgewater), a senior middle blocker for the Florida volleyball team, was named the Southeastern Conference's defensive player of the week on Sept. 28. In that week, Williams averaged 2.71 blocks per game, and she set a career high for a match with 10 against LSU. Williams was the first Gator in almost two years to reach 10 or more blocks in a match.

In 2003, Williams made the All-SEC second team, as well as the NCAA Tournament East Region all-tournament team.

WASHINGTON ON ROLL

At Temple University's athletic Web site, fans can vote on which of the Owls' fall sports teams will have the most success this season.

As of Thursday, the football team was only getting 16 percent of the vote -- fair considering its 1-4 start -- but had the poll been about the most successful player, it's a good bet starting quarterback Walter Washington (Mainland) would have received his share of the votes.

Washington is one of the best things going for the Owls these days. Through Thursday, he was averaging 212 total yards per game, good for fifth in the Big East.

Washington is as strong as he is quick, benching 475 pounds in the spring. He became the starting quarterback in the last five games of the 2003 season, and strong starts against nationally ranked Virginia Tech, Pittsburgh and West Virginia earned him the starting job for this season. He averaged 315 yards of total offense in those three games.

CARTER CATCHING ON

It only took two catches, but Palm Bay receiver Xavier Carter (Palm Bay) jumped to second at LSU this season in touchdown receptions in LSU's loss to Georgia on Oct. 2.

Carter, a redshirt freshman, caught a 2-yard pass against the Bulldogs to try to keep the Tigers in the game, but Georgia's pass attack kept LSU from catching up.

The previous week, Carter caught a 67-yard touchdown pass, LSU's longest of the season entering Saturday's game against Florida.

So far, Carter's lived up to the expectations set for him out of high school, where he was a Parade and USA Today All-American and we even ranked first at wide receiver by some publications.

STETSON LOSES FIFTH STRAIGHT

Giving up the lead is becoming all too common for the Stetson volleyball team, and Coach Cheryl Carlson is trying to solve it before it ruins the season more than it already has.

For the second time in five games, all losses, Stetson gave up a 2-0 lead Tuesday against Bethune-Cookman. The Lady Cats (2-4) took the last three games, 30-25, 30-20, 15-10, to drop Stetson to 3-9.

"We have got to learn that after we give the momentum away, we can take it back," Carlson said. "As of now, we have not been able to take it back. We get behind and think, `Here we go again.' We just need to learn how to win some key points."

LAKERS GETTING HEALTHY

Several injuries have hurt the Lake/Sumter Community College volleyball team in trying to get back to the state tournament for the fourth consecutive year, but Coach Steve Benson said they might be ready to get back on track after a 3-13 start.

Benson said Tuesday's 3-2 victory against St. John's River might give his team the confidence it needs.

"It's a real big win for us," Benson said.

One thing that's helped is getting healthy. For a while, the Lakers were starting a defensive specialist at setter, but now, the rotation is back to normal.

"It helps us a lot," Benson said. "It got us a lot more assists, and everyone can play their position."

The Lakers are still missing starting outside hitter Kayla Lane, who is out with a knee injury. Jessica Rupe (Eustis) has helped pick up the slack, and Benson said the team looks better as time goes on and players get healthy.